This is your final exam. Please answer each question to the best of your ability. If you use any quotations from the books, please include a page number. If you use sources other than the books, please include citations for them on a
Works Cited page at the end of your exam.
DUE DATE: 11:59pm Wednesday, 5/4/11
Questions about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- Throughout most of the story, we share Harry’s point of view. We see what he sees and experience what he experiences. In the first chapter, however, we are shown Mr. Dursley’s point of view as he drives to work, sees a cat reading a map, and encounters oddly dressed people on the streets. Rowling could have given us a more straightforward third-person story without any particular point of view. Why does she choose to show us Mr. Dursley’s thoughts and reactions in this first chapter?
- What larger theme does Rowling express in her discussion of the Mirror of Erised and Harry's fascination with it?
- Many conservative critics claim that the Harry Potter series promotes witchcraft and is therefore unsuitable for children. Do you agree or disagree with this claim?
- Was Professor Dumbledore correct to leave the infant Harry with the Dursley family instead of keeping him in the wizarding world?
- Professor Quirrell tells Harry that “There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it.” Do you agree with this? Is this the reality of the world? Or if good and evil do exist, what makes them so? Which is more important in the world, power, or good and evil?
- Is there a clear sense of good and evil in the book?
Questions about The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Also, the film and game)
- What did you learn about the types of characters that can be played in Lord of the Rings Online from the videos you viewed or the characters you played?
- Do you think The Lord of the Rings Online is a good representation of the world you learned about while reading The Fellowship of the Ring? Why or why not?
- Was the film version of the book a good representation of what you read? What kind of adaptation was it (think back to your Harry Potter paper)
- Imagine that you have been invited to the Council of Elrond. Write a 2-3 page essay in which you argue for or against destroying the One Ring. Provide supporting evidence for your position.
- How would Tolkien define good? How would he define evil? Use at least 3 examples for each from the book to support your answer.
